Airship.



C. E. RITTER.

AIRSHIP. APPLIUAIIONTHLED .1111'.11111911.

1,006,282. 1 Patented 001.1?,1911

2 sums-SHEET 1.

Swim/nm G. E. RITTER. Amsm. APPLICATION FILED JA'N. 26, 1911.

Patented 0111.111911.

a SHEETS-SHEET a,

CARL E. RITTER, F PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA.

AIRSHIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Application led January 25, 1911. Serial No.'604,643.

T o' all whom it may concern:

Be it known Vthat I, CARL E.'R1TTER, al citizen of the United. States, residing at Petaluma, in the county ofSononia' and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Airships, of which `the following is a speciicati'on.

This invention relates to air ships,A and particularly to air craft of 4that kind adapted to he driven and sustained throughthe action of suitably arranged propellers,

,wherebythc use of a gas field, or ordinary suppoiting planes may' be dispensed with.

The object of the invention is to provide an air ship which is capable of being driven at high speed, of ascending directly from the ground without a preliminary running motion, and of being readily and conveniently controlled in flight without the necessity. of-

employing a complex steering apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel system and arrangement of driving and' sustaining propellers, whereby efficiency of propulsion and 'sustention is insured.'

The invention consists of thefeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, in Which:

Figure 1 is a view in sideelevation of an Aair ship embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section. y

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the body of the air ship, which comprises an elongated tube, tapered substantially to a point at its .bow and stern ends 2 and 3.

This tubular body may be made of any suitlable material, and is preferably of truncated diamond-form in cross' section. As shownv particularly in Fig. 4, the body'is Widest at its transverse line and has its sides tapering convergently ,toward its bottom and top.

The bottom and top surfaces of the body are "preferably flattened, the top surface being of less width than the bottom surface. This cross sectional shape of the body adapts it to be driven-through the air with a minimum degree of resistance. v

The body is provided at the front with observation openings 4 for the use of the pilot, and may be formed in each of its sides with any desired number of ort h oles or windows 5. The interior of t e body maybe subdivided into any desired numberjdff compartments for thestorage of freight, ac. commodation of passengers, and thev housing.

of the motors and the like.

r Arranged at the stern 3fis a rudder orsteering plane having a vertical surface-6` and a horizontal surface.- rThis rudder is Patented oct. 17, 191,1".4

connected with' the sternl by a suitable universal joint 8 to adapt it to be m'oved vertically to steer the ship in a vertical. plane and laterally to steer the ship horizontally. Any ordinary or suitable connections for control, ling the rudder .froml an operating 'device arranged at or near the bow of the ship may be employed.

The body 1 ismounted upon a frame or' sub-structure 9 carrying wheels 10 which are designed to supportthe ship when on the ground, to enable it to be shifted along the surface of the ground, and to adapt it to land without shocks or jars. These wheels may be cushioned in any suitable manner.

Arranged in a longitudinal series above the top of thevbody 1, in close proximity thereto,are lifting and sustaining propel# lers ll, each of which 1s mounted on a vertical sha-ft 12 driven by an independent motor 13. These'propellers are disposed to act in close proximity, so as to serve the purpose of rotatlng the planes, which operate to sustain the ship in the air, and by variations in i the speed of which the lifting and sustaining power may b e regulated. The propellers are preferably made of some considerable length in order to have maximum sweep, and may alternately.throughout the series revolve in opposite directions to prevent any tendency to lateral deflection of the ship in flight liable to ensue if all the propellers were driven in the same direction.

Arranged at the bow 2 is adriving propeller 14 mounted on a horizontal shaft 15y drivenby a motor 16, which is preferably ofhigher power than t-he motors 13 in' order that a high driving thrust action of the propeller 14 may be obtained topropel the ship with considerable speed through the air while it is being sustained by the propellers V11. `Each motor is preferably independently suppliedwith gasolene or other liquid fuel from a tank or reservoir 17 upon'the under side of the body or adjacent portion of the frame 9, from which reservoir the liquid fuel is supplied to the motor through a suitable' construction of compressed 'air force feed mechanism 18, provi ed with controlling` valves which regulatel the' supplyof air to. the reservoirand the'flow of fuel from the reservoir to the motor.Av The pump or force feed device' of the force feed mechathe rudder, and thespeed regulated by vary nism may derive power from themotor 13 or 16 which it serves.

In starting flight, the propellers 11 are setI into action at high speed to raise the ship from the ground to the desired elevation. Vhen the desired elevation is reached the speed ofthe propellers 11 is diminished to exert only a supporting effect, .while the 'riving propeller 14 is set into action to pro-` pel the ship forward. The direction of the ship in flight maybe controlled by means of ing the speed of the propeller 14. Vhen it is desired to descend the speed o f the propellers 11 may be further diminished and the rudder turned topoint the bow end of the ship downward,while the propeller 14` ncontinues to operate at normal speed, Where-- by a quick descent may be effected, or byI increasing the speed ofthe propellers 11 andl stopping the propeller 14 the ship maybe allowed to slowly descend to the ground.

' By arranging the lifting propellers so as to operate in a'plane parallel with and close to the upper surface of the body l, the pro- Vpellers operate to break up side gusts of air 'and thus tend to steady the ship in flight,

' sucharrangement of the propellers also'obviating the use ofuprightsupporting struc-l tures liable to render the ship top heavy or to present surfaces against which cross currents of. air may strike to..distribute the lateral equilibrium.

The motors are arranged below they longitudinal transverse center of the ship to make Having thus described claim ithe' invention,.'I

An air A ship comprising anelongated tubular-.fiat bottomed bodyextending. lengthwise in the line of,- flight and of substantially frusto-dia'rnond form in cross section, g Y

a vertically rotatable driving propeller at the forward end of the body, a direction rudder at the rear end of the body, and fore and aft series of horizontally rotatable lifting and sustaining propellers mounted'upon the top of the bod in close. proxlmity to each vother and to t e upper surface of the' body. L

` In ,testimony Awhereof I-aiir' my signature in presence oftwo'witne'sses.

CARL E.` RITTER. Witnesses:

P. BowL'Es, v H. L. ATKINSON.

Copies of this patentmay be obtainedvfor five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioni-.01', Patents; i Washington, D. C. v

. l The body l maybe provided `with the" i revent vertical deflection 

